TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s economy minister has struck a new business deal worth T$30 billion ($940 million) with top executives at four major technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley, the ministry announced on Saturday.
Wang Mei-hua has been in the US all week to respond to what her office calls “concerns” about supply chain and geopolitical issues.
Taiwan is a major semiconductor producer, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and supplying most of the world’s leading technology companies.
The island’s productive position has caused concern in the United States, which is very dependent on Taiwan, especially because of China’s increased military exercises to assert its claim to sovereignty.
Wang met with executives from NVIDIA Corp, Cisco Systems Inc, Applied Materials Inc and Synopsys Inc on Friday, the ministry said in a statement, saying she had “great interest”.
The visits are expected to bring more than $30 billion worth of US research and development investment and orders to Taiwan.
The minister said Wang met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson, CCCC Senior Vice President and Global Innovation Officer Guy Diedrich, and Synopsis Chairman and CEO Art de Guise.
NVIDIA declined to comment on the meeting. The other three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wang said on Tuesday that if Taiwan is secure, global semiconductor supply chains will also be secure.
($1 = 31.9720 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by William Mallard)
